Dev Diary #44: the ALL NEW Date Mode

[Click the image to see the VIDEO!]

Alright people, maybe it's time to tell you a little bit about the new Date Mode. As you might remember, we were not completely satisfied with the game play of the Date Mode prototype we shared a while ago as it felt a bit unexciting and meaningless in between the dialogues and events. We've spend the last weeks reimagining it in close collaboration with our partners and have finally arrived at a point where we can confidently say that Date Mode is now way more exciting and fun without losing any of its appeal in terms of the content itself.

Above, you can see a short gif depicting early prototype footage (don't mind makeshift visualisation of everything) and explaining the new movement concept. The Dates are now split into multiple smaller bits, called "stages" for now, each resembled by a two-dimensional board with a certain arrangement of events (spaces that are highlighted with a colored background).

The player has a certain amount of 'cards' featuring geometric elements that resemble certain movement patterns to get to as many events of interest as he can manage and gain affection points, enchantment points, collectibles and so on. The spaces in between have small bonuses in the form of more affection, single enchantment points, temporary multipliers and even additional cards to prolong the stage and therefore increase the potential points that can be collected.

In case you get stuck, you can convert one of your movement patterns to a single step or use enchantment points to rotate one of your cards or swap all cards for new ones.

When all cards are used, the story progresses and the next stage starts, featuring new events in a different layout and more. After a few stages (5 in this case), you will be given a 1-3 star rating for your performance with one being the minimum to proceed to the next part of the Date.

I can't tell for sure if it would be feasible to prepare a version of the prototype for you to play without losing too much time to hold on to our release plans, but I'll look into it and will give you more info soon.

I hope you like the idea as Cucu, I and our partners agree that this is a whole new level of Date Mode experience and that it doesn't feel forced and clunky like the very first concept at all. See you soon :)

x
Zanzo